King Follett Discourse -- E'

E’ — Spirits, no Beginning, no End

a. [I want to reason more on the spirit of man for*] I am dwelling on the immortality [immutability*] of the spirit of man.

b.Is it logical to say that the intelligence of spirits is immortal, and yet that it had a beginning? The intelligence of spirits had not [a] beginning, neither will it have an end. That is good logic. That which has a beginning may have an end.

d. There never was a time when there were not spirits; for they are co­equal (co­eternal) with our Father in heaven. I want to reason more on the spirit of man;

c. for I am dwelling on the body and spirit of man –­­ on the subject of the dead.

e. I take my ring from my finger and liken it unto the mind of man ­­– the immortal part [spirit*], because it has no beginning. Suppose you cut it in two; then it has a beginning and an end;

f. but join it again, and it continues one eternal round.

a. So with the spirit of man.

b. As the Lord liveth, if it had a beginning, it will have an end. All the fools and learned and wise men from the beginning of creation, who say that the spirit of man had a beginning, prove that it must have an end;

c. and if that doctrine is true, then the doctrine of annihilation would be true.

d. But if I am right I might with boldness proclaim from the house­tops that God never had the power to create the spirit of man at all. God himself could not create himself.

e.Intelligence is eternal and exists upon a self­-existent principle. It is a spirit from age to age, and there is no creation about it.

f. All the minds and spirits that God ever sent into the world are susceptible of enlargement. The first principles of man are self-existent with God.

Summary outline:

a. the spirit of man.
b. The intelligence of spirits had not [a] beginning, neither will it have an end

d. they are co­equal (co­eternal) with our Father in heaven
c. the subject of the dead.

e. the mind of man ­­– the immortal part [spirit*] . . . has no beginning.
f. join it again, and it continues one eternal round.

a. So with the spirit of man.
b. if it had a beginning, it will have an end.

c. the doctrine of annihilation
d. God himself could not create himself.

e. Intelligence is eternal and exists upon a self­-existent principle.
f. The first principles of man are self-existent with God